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FnaticMSI wins Universal Gaming League HoN Cup

In a heated battle between the 2 European powerhouses, FnaticMSI emerged victorious 2-1 against Online Kingdom. This tournament organised by Universal Gaming League boasted a prize pool worth of $700, sponsored by S2 Games.

As the game evolves, it has become apparent that most of MSI's adversaries have come to use all 3 of their bans on heroes that MSI have been proven to dominate with. FnaticMSI wanted to start with their usual trilane set-up, but good scouting using an early flying courier allowed them to do an impromptu adjustment in response to OK's 1-2-2 set-up. This however caused Hellbringer and Madman on both sides to suffer, as Freshpro on Madman was forced to use Stalk to juke around just for experience. Hilarity ensued as Akke on Slither chased him around along with some friendly chat.

Consequence of both teams having 1 struggling solo, both Pandamonium and Swiftblade had virtual freefarm, with literally equal amounts of creep kills most of the time. Not much happened aside from some kills here and there, with the first significant carry death going to Bot as he stayed greedily for the top tier 1 tower.

The game finally swerved into MSI's favour with a well won 5 for 1 teamfight at mid at the 19th minute. Tundra and Pandamonium were leading the charge, both with their Helm of the Black Legions out as they went to claim Kongor after that fight. Online Kingdom conceded in the weirdest fashion at the 23rd minute as Hellbringer all of a sudden casts his ultimate on nothing followed by a concede vote.

Online Kingdom were determined to make a stand in game 2, as they stormed into an early lead, dominating all 3 lanes. After the departure of Kebap who was famed for playing heroes such as Magmus and Behemoth to perfection, Overpow proved that he was a worthy replacement. His roaming Magmus was nothing short of aggressive, setting up kills left right and centre to set the tone of OK's early dominance. By 17 minutes OK had a 7k overall lead in gold and experience.

OK started to pull away as they went for Kongor 6 minutes later. Out of desperation MSI rushed to Kongor to intercept. Unfortunately they got picked off 1 by 1 as OK genocides MSI. The game snowballed from that point onwards as Soulstealer and Forsaken Archer were each outfarming Flint Beastwood. It looked inevitable that the series would go to a game 3.

Crucial Behemoth pick-off

However, MSI for once showed their defensive prowess, utilising Behemoth well to turtle their base, negating OK's token of life advantage twice. This forced Online Kingdom to play cautiously and farm while waiting for Kongor respawns before attempting pushes. MSI's turtling was so good that their base tower was still standing after OK's 3rd token and bananas were used.

As both sides began to play more cautiously from a spectator point of view it began to turn into a boring farmfest with a teamfight every 10 minutes. Finally the game was won by OK when they successfully managed to abuse their mobility with Magmus's portal key and Hag's Flash to pick off Behemoth before a teamfight. With Behemoth out of the equation, they had no trouble winning the teamfight, and MSI conceded.

Game 3 started with an early 5on5 clash in the legion jungle, MSI came out winners with a kill on Pestilence. An epic moment ensued at the 2nd minute showing the downside of playing Behemoth when the execution goes wrong, when Freshpro accidentally blocked his carry on the wrong side, killing her.

The game also featured Trixi's long lost solo Slither, coming off from a bad start against Overpow's Hellbringer, he soon regained momentum after a series of ward spams. The game was fairly even until the 20th minute, when an invisible Bubbles ganked Pyromancer and Andromeda in the forest. Having a 2 man advantage, MSI decided to go for Kongor. They further consolidated their lead by getting a Bound Eye, that along with Slither's wards and his future puzzle box 3 ensured that MSI had complete map control.

The game gets more and more in favour of Fnatic as Trixi, N0tail and NoVa_ abuse their ganking capabilities to play a 3v5 game while Behemoth and Forsaken Archer farm up. MSI got Kongor and won a teamfight at the 41st minute, by then they were leading by 22k gold and it looked as if a loss was inevitable for OK.

Another loss teamfight 3 minutes later was the last straw for Online Kingdom as they threw out the concede vote.

---End Game 3---

With the end of ths tournament it looks like Universal Gaming League is about to continue it's dedication to bolster the HoN competitive scene as their HoN Mini-Cup Banning Draft tournament starts tomorrow. For more information, check out their site here.